GENK, Belgium, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Real Madrid may not have sparkled like European champions but they retained the spirit and work ethic to survive a torrid test as their weakened team was held to a 1-1 draw by Belgian champions Genk on Tuesday.

Madrid had already qualified for the second phase of the Champions League from Group C and duly clinched their place in Friday's draw among the seeds as group winners with the point.

A goal ahead, thanks to a close-range strike by promising young Spanish striker Tote after 21 minutes, the defending champions and nine-times European Cup winners withstood a battering from the Belgians, who were seeking a win to hoist them up to third place and a UEFA Cup spot.

When Genk levelled with a header by Belgium striker Wesley Sonck from a corner after 86 minutes a surprise result suddenly seemed possible, but Madrid responded with a strong final flurry in which Guti's close-range goal was harshly disallowed.

In the end, the Spaniards, fielding only three of the players -- Fernando Hierro, Roberto Carlos and Luis Figo -- who started last Saturday's Spanish league win at Rayo Vallecano, were able to hang on for a dramatic and often bruising draw.

For an experimental team sprinkled with young players it was good enough to satisfy their wily coach Vicente Del Bosque.

'We are glad to have survived this match and to have qualified for the next stage,' he said. 'There is a long way to go to the final of the Champions League.'

Del Bosque praised the fighting spirit in Sef Vergoossen team and explained that he had adjusted his side's tactics at the interval to prevent Genk from enjoying as much control in the second half as they had in the first.

'We found this was not an easy match. They played very well and fought with great determination,' he said. 'It was particularly difficult in the first half, but we were lucky to be able to score then so that helped us a lot in this match.'

Vergoossen said: 'We didn't have the luck we needed to win and get third place in the group, but the players did everything I asked them to do, especially in the first half.'

On a rainswept evening littered with mistimed challenges, the visitors -- who had left half their team of stars, including Zinedine Zidane, Raul and Ronaldo, at home -- were rarely able to show any of the perfectly choreographed attacking football that can be so enchanting when they are at their best.

Instead, they were forced to roll up their sleeves and compete physically and tactically to survive a fierce opening spell, during which Sonck was cautioned for a rash challenge after only eight minutes, before taking the initiative.

Tote, 23, struck his first goal in European competition when a corner from the left off Portugal's Luis Figo was headed back across goal by Francisco Pavon leaving Tote with a simple chance and he forced the ball in from close range.

It was a rare moment of precision from the visiting aristocrats of the European game against the homespun Belgian outfit completing their maiden appearance with a test against the swaggering Spaniards.

As the game unfolded, Madrid lost not only their captain Fernando Hierro, who limped off after a painful fall in the first half, but much of their usual shape and cohesion as the pitch cut up and Genk cut into their midfield patterns.

The home team had chances, but they were usually from long distance or hurried snatches at close quarters, though Dominguez Cesar had to make two low blocking stops from Didier Zokoro and a good diving save from Kevin Vandenbergh in the first half.

Fernando Morientes, the man displaced by Madrid's signing of Brazilian World Cup hero Ronaldo, wasted a second-half opening with a soft shot against a post and late substitute Santiago Solari had an effort saved by the goalkeeper's legs.